Renal neuromodulation for treatment of human patients
First Claim
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1. A method, comprising:
- intravascularly positioning a catheter in a reduced profile delivery configuration at a treatment site within a renal artery of a human patient and adjacent to renal nerves;
at the treatment site, transforming an expandable member at a distal portion of the catheter between the reduced profile delivery configuration and a treatment configuration,wherein, in the treatment configuration, the expandable member is sized and shaped to place a plurality of electrodes arranged thereabout into apposition with an inner wall of the renal artery of the patient;
selectively energizing a first electrode group of the expandable member to deliver a bipolar energy field to the renal nerves; and
selectively energizing a second electrode group at the distal portion of the catheter to deliver a unipolar energy field to the renal nerves,wherein delivering the bipolar energy field and the unipolar energy field modulates neural signaling along the renal nerves, andwherein modulating neural signaling along the renal therapeutically beneficial reduction in blood pressure of the patient.
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus are provided for monopolar neuromodulation, e.g., via a pulsed electric field. Such monopolar neuromodulation may effectuate irreversible electroporation or electrofusion, necrosis and/or inducement of apoptosis, alteration of gene expression, action potential attenuation or blockade, changes in cytokine up-regulation and other conditions in target neural fibers. In some embodiments, monopolar neuromodulation is applied to neural fibers that contribute to renal function. In some embodiments, such monopolar neuromodulation is performed bilaterally.
564 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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intravascularly positioning a catheter in a reduced profile delivery configuration at a treatment site within a renal artery of a human patient and adjacent to renal nerves; at the treatment site, transforming an expandable member at a distal portion of the catheter between the reduced profile delivery configuration and a treatment configuration, wherein, in the treatment configuration, the expandable member is sized and shaped to place a plurality of electrodes arranged thereabout into apposition with an inner wall of the renal artery of the patient; selectively energizing a first electrode group of the expandable member to deliver a bipolar energy field to the renal nerves; and selectively energizing a second electrode group at the distal portion of the catheter to deliver a unipolar energy field to the renal nerves, wherein delivering the bipolar energy field and the unipolar energy field modulates neural signaling along the renal nerves, and wherein modulating neural signaling along the renal therapeutically beneficial reduction in blood pressure of the patient. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for treating a hypertensive human patient, the method comprising:
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positioning an expandable member of a renal denervation catheter at an intravascular location within a renal artery of a human patient and adjacent to neural fibers innervating a kidney of the patient for a treatment, wherein the catheter includes a plurality of first electrodes carried by the expandable member and a second electrode carried by a shaft of the catheter proximate the expandable member; transforming the expandable member between a low-profile delivery state and an expanded treatment state, wherein, in the treatment state, the expandable member is sized and shaped to place the first electrodes into contact with a wall of the renal artery; and ablating the neural fibers innervating the kidney via radio frequency (RF) energy delivered in a bipolar fashion using the first electrodes and RF energy delivered in a unipolar fashion using the second electrode, wherein ablating the neural fibers innervating the kidney via RF energy results in a therapeutically beneficial reduction in blood pressure of the hypertensive patient. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification